Holes that Store

A new form of activated graphene— three dimensional porous carbon—can yield better supercapacitors. Both supercapacitors and batteries store electric charge. Supercapacitors store charge in the form of ions but hold less charge. This limits their use to mobiles. The new graphene soaks electric charge at a faster rate and can be used in electric vehicles. To create it, the scientists used microwaves to exfoliate grap hite oxide and then treated it with potassium hydroxide. This restructured the graphene to yield a carbon full of tiny holes. Batteries store charge through chemical reaction and release the charge over a period of time.

Source: Down To Earth, June 2011